Howth villa with links to famous Bewleys clan goes on the market for €4.95m

Brackenlea is a five-bedroom house on a raised one-acre site at Baily

Open-plan kitchen/living room with floor-to-ceiling windows

Brackenlea is a five-bedroom house on a raised one-acre site at Baily

Open-plan kitchen/living room with floor-to-ceiling windows

The entrance hallway

Ernest Bewley

The view across Dublin Bay

One of the reception rooms

Brackenlea is a five-bedroom house on a raised one-acre site at Baily

Jim O'Brien

March 10 2023 02:30 AM

Jacobs, Goodbodys, Lambs and Pims. Quaker families have historically made a big impression on the business scene in Ireland. But the best known of all are the Bewleys. Their oriental cafes, cream cakes, coffees and teas remain an enduring part of Dublin city’s culture in particular.

The family established its fortune importing tea from China in the 1830s. Later they introduced Ireland to coffee and cafe society. Lesser known is the fact that they have also built some of Dublin’s finest houses.

Open-plan kitchen/living room with floor-to-ceiling windows

When Joshua Bewley died in 1900, the business passed to son Ernest, who was fond of his flashy homes and fast cars.

Ernest lived at Danum House, a spectacular abode in Dublin’s Rathgar with 30 acres of ground attached (today it is The High School). And according to the owners of Brackenlea in Howth, it was in the early 1900s (just as Ernest took over the family firm), that the Bewleys built this villa at Baily, choosing a raised site with truly spectacular views across Dublin Bay.

Brackenlea, which dates between 1906 to 1910, is an art deco-style villa designed by the architect Robert Henry King.

The entrance hallway

A die-hard unionist and anti-Home Ruler, Ernest realised coffee would become the new tea and he pushed it. He imported Ireland’s first Jersey herd to make superior cream for cakes and coffees. And he almost bankrupted the family in the process of acquiring, fitting out and opening its most famous cafe in 1927 at Grafton Street, which includes the beloved stained glass windows by Harry Clarke. Lore says the Grafton Street cafe ultimately killed Ernest, the challenges of bringing it into being broke his health and almost did for the family fortune into the bargain. He died in 1932.

Ernest Bewley

But when the Bewleys constructed the five-bedroom house on a raised one-acre site at Baily, the family was one of the wealthiest on this island. Located off the Old Carrickbrack Road, it looks south across Dublin Bay to Bray. In 1929 the house was sold to pharmacist Augustus Dolan. And it stayed in the Dolan family until Pat and Jim Coffey bought it at auction in May 1991.

The view across Dublin Bay

Brackenlea is built in a series of blocks facing different directions to catch the sun at all times of the day. There are morning rooms facing east while the main reception and living rooms face south and west. All the utilities and the bathrooms are at the back. The first set of renovations included the addition of a new wing with two bedrooms and bathrooms over a double garage.

There are two staircases in the house, one to the upper floor of the extension and one to the first floor of the original building. The most recent renovations, undertaken 10 years ago, included wrap-around insulation, zoned heating conveyed underground and through radiators, and triple glazing. All in all, these works delivered a BER rating of B1.

One of the reception rooms

Access is off the Old Carrickbrack Road, while a pedestrian entrance provides access from a private road that leads to Howth Golf Club. Spanning 3,821 sq ft, Brackenlea has an entrance hall leading to three reception rooms, a study, and an open plan kitchen/ living and dining space with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Double doors lead to the patio with a glass wind breaker where some of the best views from the house can be experienced. There are five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a kitchen. The gardens are laid out in a series of terraces with a lawn at centre. There’s a summer house which is currently used as an artist’s studio and planning had been secured here for a boathouse.

Brackenlea is now for sale with a guide price of €4.95m through Gallagher Quigley (01) 8183000.